The Invasion (2007)

Originally Written

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Hated by the critics, shrugged off by the viewers, and shamed at the box office; I expected The Invasion to be a horrible film but was pleasantly surprised when I ended up enjoying it. Maybe it's to the benefit of those of us who haven't seen prior adaptations of this story, or maybe it takes a person whose willing to not take the film so literally and compare versions or nitpick inconsistencies. But then again maybe my body has been overcome by an alien virus bent on controlling my mind...that hot chocolate did taste a little funny.

Common sense, if something from outer space comes crashing down on your doorstep, probably better not to touch it, but of course who follows reason anymore? So when a space shuttle plummets to Earth in a ball of fire, scattering debris all over the eastern United States people flock to it. Unfortunately for them an alien virus is attached to the debris of the shuttle and once in contact with the human body takes control of their minds. Nicole Kidman plays Carol Bennell, a psychiatrist and single mom, who soon begins to notice blatant differences in behavior and people's lack of emotion. With the assistance of her friend Dr. Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) they discover a virus that's been gaining its hold on the human body while the victim sleeps. Now they must stay awake until a cure can be discovered, or become victims of this worldwide invasion!

Take your thinking caps off for this one. The Invasion doesn't require a lot of contemplation, if you try to reason what's going on then you're already doomed. Some things don't quite add up or don't make a whole lot of sense, but that seems to be the whole point, it's not supposed to. You're not given much more information than the characters which puts you in the same boat as them and makes things a little more interesting. The Invasion isn't anything new, but I found it entertaining and suspenseful enough to keep me interested, and the film has the right amount of corniness to keep me amused. I especially found the scene where Kidman head slams the little kid into the bed post highly amusing! Overall, I think The Invasion is more duly appreciated by the hardcore science fiction fans that are looking for a fun, exciting movie, but not particularly a great film. This reminds me of the some of the classic science fiction films of the 50's, corny yet fun. Best thing to do is go into this not expecting much, and you may be pleasantly surprised that it's really not that bad at all.

8/10